I love horror movies—in the last year, horror has probably
become my most watched genre. However, a good horror
story can be hard to come by. Often, films rely too heavily on
jump scares, rather than focusing on a substantial plot. Other times,
the things that happen just don’t make sense, and clearly weren’t
thoroughly thought out. One of the worst blunders a horror movie
can make (in my opinion) is being overly predictable. This is
where the genre of “artificial intelligence gone wrong” often fits.
M3GAN is a 2022 movie by the relatively-unknown New
Zealand director, Gerard Johnstone. I honestly wasn’t even
planning on watching it; the scary robot-doll thing is so horribly
cliche. However, when the horror movie I actually wanted to see—
The Menu—was no longer in theaters, I decided to give M3GAN a
go.
From the very beginning, it was obvious what was going to
happen. Foreshadowing is good, but this movie was a little too
intense with the foreshadowing. The plot was just so incredibly
predictable, which leaves for a pretty boring 102 minutes.
I will concede that there were some valid critiques of artificial
intelligence in this movie, but they weren’t explored as much as I
would have liked. The story follows a recently-orphaned girl,
Katie, whose robot-designing aunt gives her the prototype of a toy
she’s working on as a way of keeping her entertained. Katie soon
becomes overly attached to her doll, Megan, and her social skills
begin to suffer as a result. There’s a lot of discussion around this
concern in our world today—many parents worry that in our
highly technologically advanced world, children will fail to form
real, human connections with others their age. This movie could
have gone much further with this point, but instead, it ended up
being a highly overdramatic story of a robot doll going haywire
and killing everyone in her way. It is safe to say it was not the most
original plot I’ve ever seen.
Additionally, I have issues in general with the whole “artificial
intelligence gone wrong” genre of horror. I don’t think it’s
productive in any way, and just creates an irrational fear of
progress. There are downsides to artificial intelligence—like a
decrease in available jobs, declining social skills, and an
overreliance on technology—but the idea that robots will go evil
and kill everyone is just stupid. It’s so overused at this point, and
I’m tired of it.
The actual quality of the movie was good: the acting was great,
and the backgrounds and special effects were successful The actress
who played Katie, Violet McGraw, was extremely familiar. If you
want an actually good horror recommendation, I would consider
watching The Haunting of Hill House, which also stars Violet
McGraw, as child Nelly. Don’t get me wrong: M3GAN wasn’t
awful—it was genuinely entertaining and enjoyable at the moment.
However, it’s just not that incredible of a movie. It goes into my
category of “basic but fun horror movies.” Other titles in this
category include The Invitation, Old, The Nun, Men, It Follows,
Ouija, and IT (I know people are going to be mad about this
one…). The best, most original horror movies that I can think of
right off the bat are Silence of the Lambs, Get Out, Us, and
Midsommar.
If you disagree or have any movies to add to this short but
nonexhaustive list, I encourage you to write an article about it for a
future issue!
